


Momming

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Immediate Family [7]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 02:17:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2370776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You're really gonna like Daddy.” Penelope nodded.  “He's so awesome.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Momming

**Author's Note:**

> This is Criminal Minds fic #1201. This was also the best title I could come up with for this little gem.

“Mommy?”

“Yes?”

“Can I pack my football helmet?”

“Are you planning on playing football?” Erin asked.

“No, but it goes with my pink dress and you packed it. So if Pop-Pop takes us somewhere nice and I have to wear it, I’ll have my helmet too.”

“That’s a sound theory. But you do know that a football helmet isn’t a fancy hat, right Penelope?”

“Not to you Mommy but I like it with my dresses.”

“Touché, little one. Alright, we can pack your football helmet. Don’t forget your teddy bear and your Magic 8 Ball.”

“I'm gonna keep Teddy with me on the train. Sometimes your luggage gets lost; I don’t want him to end up in Schenectady.”

“Do you know where Schenectady is sweetie?”

“Mmm…no. But it’s really far right?”

“It’s far enough that I can see why you wouldn’t want Teddy to end up there. Do you want to pack some shorts?”

“The green army shorts are comfortable, and maybe my Hello Kitty shorts.”

“That’s a good pair.” Erin went over to the dresser and grabbed both pairs of shorts. 

She was helping all the kids pack as they prepared to visit family and friends while Dave and Erin went on a road trip. Penelope was the most difficult to pack for because she dressed daily based on mood. So if Erin didn’t want to take her entire dresser along she pretty much had to give her daughter every option. That was how the pink football helmet, a gift from dad for straight as on her report card, ended up being her favorite thing to wear with her tulle dresses or skirts.

“Mommy?”

“Yes Penelope?” she handed the seven year old her shorts so she could fold them. Penelope insisted on helping, which made the task even longer but Erin figured this was a good way to get in some mother-daughter time.

“Why are you and Daddy gonna drive so long in a car? Can you not afford to go on a plane?”

“Yes, we can afford a plane. We’re taking this road trip so we can spend quality time together. Since my accident we’ve been getting to know each other better and if we take the car we can talk and be alone and listen to loud music if we want.”

“You're really gonna like Daddy.” Penelope nodded. “He's so awesome.”

“I already think so.” Erin smiled.

“You're really awesome too, Mommy. You make Hamburger Helper really good and like to sing songs and have cool slippers that are bear paws. Plus you read me stories and do better voices than Daddy does. Don’t tell him I said.”

“Cross my heart.” Erin crossed her heart. “OK, I think we have enough for a couple of weeks with Nan and Pop-Pop. Oh wait, pajamas…we forgot to pack them.”

“Can I take the ladybug pair?” Penelope asked.

“Of course. Grab three pair, if you need more than Pop-Pop can wash them.”

Penelope went to her second drawer where she kept pajamas and some tee shirts. She was just a little kid but she had a lot of clothes. She liked clothes, loved grabbing Emily’s fashion magazines when she was done with them and cutting out the cool outfits for her bulletin board above her bed. She wanted to either be a fashion designer or a superhero when she grew up, and her mother encouraged her to give both a try.

“I'm going to miss you so much when we go.” Erin said. “I'm going to miss all of you.”

“And you're gonna bring me back something cool, right?”

“Of course I am. Have you decided what you want?”

“I thought and thought and thought about it but no. I'm gonna think some more.”

“If you don’t come up with anything, I’ll just surprise you.” Erin pinched her nose.

“I love surprises!” Penelope threw herself back on her bed. “Hey Mommy, did Daddy tell you that I wanted a lizard?”

“I heard that. You're a little young to care for such a complicated pet. But that doesn’t mean you always will be. We’ll revisit it in the future.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, I mean that Daddy and I will discuss it again when you're a little older.”

“Well is there any pet I can have?” Penelope asked.

“We already have two dogs, sweetie. I think that’s enough.”

“I wanted something just for me. If not a lizard I could get a snake or a rat or a parrot.”

This was one of the hardest motherhood things for Erin. She didn’t remember her parents saying no to her much when she was young. She never asked for pets because her father had a large aquarium in the study and she would watch the fish swim. Her kids were four vastly different personalities who asked endless questions and wanted endless things. 

Some of it was simple, like a football helmet or a set of books. Other times they asked for lizards or questions about pornography. There were days when Erin felt like a total amateur. She didn’t want to put too much of it on Dave; they were in it together. So even when she was at a loss for words, she did her best to come up with something.

“What about a fish?” Erin asked. “Pop-Pop has a lot of them so you can ask him how to take care of them while you're in New York. There are so many different kinds of fish; you can look them up online. I'm sure there's one that you'd really like.”

“I can pick any fish I want?” Penelope asked.

“Sure you can.” Erin closed the flap of the suitcase and zipped it. She sat it in front of Penelope’s closet door.

“I want one that’s a lot of colors and has a flappy tail. You think Pop-Pop knows what that one is called?”

“I bet he does…he knows everything about fish.”

“Can we call him now, Mommy? I want to talk about colorful fish now.”

Erin looked at her watch. It wasn’t just after eight so she was sure her dad was still awake. The look of happiness on Penelope’s face, and the fact that she had managed to get over on the lizard/rat/parrot issue, put Erin in a great mood. Another kid crisis averted.

“Here, you can call on my phone.” She took it from her pocket and went to her address book to find her dad’s cell number. “I need to go and check on Derek and make sure he's packing.”

“OK.” Penelope took the phone and touched the screen to make the call. “Thanks. Hi Pop-Pop, its Penelope! I wanna talk about fish, OK?”

Erin couldn’t help but let out a little laugh as she left her daughter’s room. She went down to the end of the hall. Hotch and Derek’s door was mostly closed so she knocked. It was important to respect their space. They were eleven and thirteen; sometimes she didn’t even want to know what they were doing in there.

“Hey, hey, I'm just checking to see if you're all packed.”

“Oh yeah,” Derek looked up from his Hawkeye comic book. “Been done.”

“Did you stick to the list and pack what you needed?” Erin asked.

“Mother, you wound me.”

“Oh do I?” Erin raised her eyebrow and walked further into the room. Hotch was on his own bed, beneath Derek’s. He was into his tablet but she knew the smirk on his face was from listening to their conversation.

“Yes. I stuck to the list and it’s all neatly folded and everything. Hotch double checked.”

“Its fine, Mom.” Hotch said from his bed.

“Alright. I'm coming to give you both a kiss goodnight so deal with it.”

They nodded and dealt with it. The boys knew that they remembered much more about her than she did about them. There had been a million and five kisses goodnight over the years but Erin only remembered the ones since December. So even though Hotch was 13, he would smile. And Derek got a kick out of it more than he would ever say. Erin made sure to pet Mudgie’s head; he was sleeping with Derek tonight.

“I'm going down for the night, guys. If you need anything you know where to find me.”

“Can I have some cookies?” Derek asked.

“That would be no.” she shook her head.

“Can I have some Twizzlers?” 

“I guess that would be OK. Don’t overdo it.”

“I won't; I promise. Goodnight, Mom.”

Erin blew him another kiss and then pulled the door up behind her. Penelope was still having a perfectly delightful conversation with Pop-Pop when she got back to her room. Erin tapped her watch and told her 15 more minutes until it was time to get ready for bed.

“I gotta go, Pop-Pop, the FBI is here.”

“We’ll look up more fish when you come to visit and I’ll take you to my favorite place to buy the colorful, tropical ones.”

“Cool! Thanks.”

“Anything for my little Penelope Peanut. Have sweet dreams darling, I love you.”

“I love you too, Pop-Pop. Give Nan a big kiss from me.”

“Will do. Is your mom still there; I’d love to speak to her.”

“Sure. Goodnight, Pop-Pop.”

“Goodnight, Penelope.”

“Hey Dad.” Erin held the phone up to her ear.

“You have the most amazingly strange little girl,” Erich Strauss said.

“I'm picking up on that very quickly.”

“I think you and Dave should get her an IQ test…her intelligence could be off the chart.”

“You got that from a fish conversation?” Erin asked.

“No, I've got it from talking to her pretty intensely for four years. I know she goes to a great school but you should think about it.”

“I’ll bring it up to Dave. Gotta go, Daddy; I love you.”

“Love you too Erin. Goodnight.”

“Night.”

She hung up her cell phone, putting it back in her pocket. Penelope was already in her pajamas so she just climbed into bed. Erin tucked her in and then turned on her lamp. It was Pokémon and the shade spun slowly, illuminating certain Pokémon on the wall. 

Erin was proud of herself for knowing Squirtle and Pikachu. She had no idea why she remembered them but she did. The little orange lizard—maybe he was a lizard—was Penelope’s favorite. No matter how hard Erin tried the name wasn’t coming to her.

“I'm gonna get some awesome fish, Mommy. Pop-Pop said we can go to the fish place and look at anything I want. I'm so excited.”

“Don’t be too excited to sleep.”

“Nope.” Penelope shook her head. “I love you.”

“I love you more.” Erin bent to kiss her daughter’s nose. “Sleep tight.”

“I wanna kiss from Daddy.”

“I think he's downstairs working on his story.”

“I wanna kiss from Daddy.”

Penelope was seven, such things mattered little to her. What mattered most was loving attention from her parents. If she wanted a kiss from Daddy then Erin would make sure that she got it. At least it wouldn’t cost her an arm and a leg.

“I go and find him; be right back.”

“OK.”

Erin decided to check the bedroom first. If she would’ve gone all the way downstairs and he wasn’t there it probably would’ve worn her out. In the master bedroom, Scruff the Mutt was relaxing on their bed and watching TV. Well, Erin wasn’t sure if he was watching Hippos of the Sub-Sahara but he looked interested.

“David?”

“Yeah, baby?” Dave stuck his head out of the bathroom door. He was getting dressed for a night of relaxing.

“Penelope wants a goodnight kiss.”

He smiled and walked into the bedroom. He kissed his wife then took her hand and walked back to their daughter’s bedroom.

“Who wants some kisses?” he asked coming in the door.

“Me, me!” Penelope sat up and smiled.

Dave sat down on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed all over her face while Penelope giggled until she snorted.

“Daddy!”

“You said you wanted kisses, kitten.” He kissed her once more. “That’s what I got. You ready for some good dreams?”

“Yeah, and in the morning I’ll tell you all about the exotic fish I'm gonna get.”

“That sounds great. Sleep tight, kiddo.”

“I will. Goodnight, Mommy.”

“Goodnight.” Erin blew her a kiss. She and Dave left the room and she pulled the door halfway closed.

“Where is Emily again?” Dave asked as they walked back to the master bedroom. Her room was the only dark one on the second floor of the house.

“She's staying at Jordan Todd’s. They’re live streaming a Morrissey concert from Manchester I think. They wanted to experience it together.”

“We let Emily stay at a boy’s house?” Dave sat down on the bed. Scruff immediately came over for a proper petting.

“Jordan isn’t a boy.” Erin pushed their door up as well.

“He isn’t?” 

“No, he isn’t. She’s a girl.”

“She is?”

“David…”

“Well Emily talks about Jordan all the time and the name is unisex these days. And I overheard her talking to Hotch about kissing and she mentioned Jordan and I just assumed…” Dave paused for moment. “Emily is kissing girls.”

“She might be.” Erin said.

“You know something about this.” He pointed at her.

“I'm not going to break any of Emily’s confidences. She's fine, everything’s fine, and Jordan Todd is a girl.”

“Is she a cute girl?” Dave asked.

“She's 13…I wasn’t really looking at her in that way.”

“OK. And we’re OK that it’s just kissing and not, you know…?”

“Don’t make me nervous.” Erin said.

“I'm sorry. Emily could be the one we worry about the most.”

“For sex and shenanigans, you're probably right. We’re going to worry about Penelope the most for getting distracted by any and everything, which will make it hard for her to finish things. We’re going to worry about Hotch the most when it comes to keeping things inside until he explodes and does permanent harm. We’re going to worry about Derek the most because every day he walks on suburban streets as a black preteen and then teenager and then man.”

“When my hair starts going white, I'm not going to color it.” Dave said.

“That makes one of us.”

“C'mere baby.” He smiled and called Erin over with his finger.

She went and sat down on his lap. For a few moments they just held each other. She could hear the rain falling outside, luckily it wasn’t a thunderstorm. She could hear Scruff’s breathing and the animal documentary on low volume. Erin thought it might be narrated by David Attenborough. It was nice to have a little moment together. She held on a little tighter and exhaled.

“You alright?” Dave rubbed her back.

“Mmm hmm. Derek and Penelope are all packed for their trip. Before the weekend ends I’ll make sure Aaron and Emily are too.”

“Five days.”

“I know.” Erin exhaled again. “I'm a little excited.”

“So am I. It’s been a while since we’ve had a vacation of any kind with just the two of us. Though I have to admit that when we take the kids anywhere it’s always an adventure.”

“And Harrison and Sarah going to take the dogs, right?”

“Yes. We’ll drop them off in the morning before we hit the road. You ready to be stuck with me for nearly two weeks.”

“I'm stuck with you forever, Agent Rossi.” Erin got off his lap and sat down on the bed. She kissed his cheek. “Though it’s not so bad, as getting stuck with things go. I love you.”

“I love you too. What are we watching here?”

“Actually Scruff is watching Hippos of Sub-Sahara Africa. I think it’s pretty good.”

“You wanna watch and cuddle?” Dave asked.

Erin smiled. She wanted to change into some pajamas. There was still a good amount of evening left and spending it relaxing with her man sounded like a good idea. She looked back; Dave winked at her. Yeah, it was a really good idea.

***


End file.
